Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Thefts have gone rampant at the railway stations of Bhopal as well as the trains crossing the city.
The data provided by the Government Railway police (GRP) has revealed that a total of 1,195 theft complaints have been received from January till July this year, which is far higher than the last yearís tally of 734 for the same period.
To add to the woes is the fact that the GRP and the Railway Protection force (RPF) teams have been unable to pull the plug on thefts. The data also mentioned that only 10 per cent of the complaints received this year were redressed by them.
Despite both the stations-Bhopal junction and Rani Kamalapati-being laced with essential equipment such as CCTV cameras, the abysmal recovery rate has left travellers in troubled waters.
Another worrisome fact is that the thieves now have the audacity to even enter into the AC compartments and make off with people's belongings.
Major cases
In July, a resident of Ghaziabad, named Raju Reddy, was travelling to Indore in an AC compartment. When the train halted at Bhopal station, two unidentified men boarded the train. They made away with Reddy's handbag and alighted the train when it began to leave. Upon realising the theft, a complaint was lodged, but the accused were nowhere to be found.
Another traveller, named Adarsh Kumar, a resident of Jalon, had alighted at the Rani Kamalapati railway station, waiting for his train to Shirdi. He told the police that he had been waiting at Platform number 4 and fell asleep for a while. Upon waking up, he found one of his bags missing, prompting him to approach the GRP.
A resident of Nagpur, identified as B Bharti, who had taken a train to Delhi, reported theft of his goods worth Rs 8 lakh from the train, when it crossed the Rani Kamalapati station.
Searches expedited
GRP TI Zaheer Khan said searches for the accused have been expedited and success shall be achieved soon.
